Oregon's Effective Behavioral and Instructional Support Systems (EBISS) initiative was implemented in 25 school districts. The initiative trained and coached district leaders and teachers in the use of the EBISS model through the lens of implementation science. The EBISS model integrates school-wide positive behavior intervention and supports…

The Assessment of Afterschool Program Practices Tool ("APT"), developed by the National Institute of Out-of-School Time (NIOST), is an observational instrument designed to measure the aspects of afterschool program quality that research suggests contribute to the 21st century skills, attitudes, and behaviors youth need to be successful…

New Jersey's Abbott Preschool program is of broad national and international interest because the Abbott program provides a model for building a high-quality system of universal pre-K through public-private partnerships that transform the existing system. The program offers high-quality pre-K to all children in 31 New Jersey communities with high…

In this report, we describe the results of a rigorous two-year study of the impacts of a mathematics initiative called Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) on teacher and student learning in grades 3-5 in two Philadelphia area school districts. OGAP is a mathematics program which combines teacher formative assessment practices with knowledge of…

Performance-based accountability along with budget tightening has increased pressure on publicly funded organizations to develop and deliver programs that produce meaningful social benefits. As a result, there is increasing need to undertake formative evaluations that estimate preliminary program outcomes and identify promising program components…

The Summer Enrichment Camp (SEC) at Pequea Valley School District was developed to provide an extended school year for at-risk, Title I, students. This study compared the learning growth of the SEC students with similar students who did not attend SEC. The 36 students in the SEC group were compared to 18 non-SEC students using district and state…

Although response to intervention (RTI) has been widely discussed in education literature and is increasingly being implemented in schools throughout the U.S., few studies provide empirical evidence of improved school-wide student outcomes. Presented here are data and an effect size analysis of school-wide student reading gains in five elementary…

In many schools in Australia students often begin their primary years with limited preparation for reading. "All hands on deck" are required to ensure the best possible student success rate for learning to read. In this project, Education Assistants, often under-utilised in schools, were used to implement a reading intervention to…

High-achieving kids from low-income families too often fall into the achievement trap; as they progress up the grades, their academic performance falls, and they are far less likely to remain star students than are middle-class or wealthy high-achievers. So says the first U.S.-wide analysis of high-achieving students from poor families (published…

This study examined the average effects of schools' third through fifth grade gifted programming policy in mathematics and reading on overall school achievement, on gifted students' achievement and academic attitudes and on nongifted students' achievement and academic attitudes. Data and results represent a broad, national look at school…

"Motivating Every Student in Literacy (Including the Highly Unmotivated!), Grades 3-6" provides an effective model for improving reading levels and increasing motivation. Under the guidance of Athans and Devine, classroom leaders develop their own Motivation Improvement Action Plans, where small-group instruction, end-of-unit assessments, and…

Paraprofessionals are widely employed in response to intervention (RTI) settings to provide instruction to students at-risk for reading disabilities. However, little research has addressed effective and efficient ways to train these paraprofessionals to deliver instruction with high fidelity. In addition, given the limited time and finances…

This technical brief responds to an Arizona Department of Education request to study academic performance in schools receiving funding through the federal Title I compensatory education program, the section of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 governing resources for schools and districts serving disadvantaged populations. The brief describes…

The TALPS study aims to build on the existing research base to develop promising methodologies to identify chronically low-performing and turnaround schools, as well as to identify promising strategies for turning around chronically low-performing schools. By looking specifically at schools identified as turnaround, in comparison to nonturnaround…

Utah's K-3 Reading Improvement Program provides state matching funds to help districts and charter schools achieve the state's goal of having third graders read at or above grade level. All 40 Utah school districts took part in both Year 1 (2004/05) and Year 2 (2005/06) of the program, and the number of participating charter schools increased in…